Le Dorat is a wonderful and strange church, just a few miles north of Bellac. The pictures in this post are from there.
There have been some misgivings expressed concerning the place of the Laity in the Ordinariates. I raised this very particularly with Fr Allan Hawkins (see my last blog) and he reassures me in these terms:
There have been some misgivings expressed concerning the place of the Laity in the Ordinariates. I raised this very particularly with Fr Allan Hawkins (see my last blog) and he reassures me in these terms:
"A Pastoral Council exists in every diocese. Its lay president, in the Diocese of Fort Worth, is currently a laymen from my Parish.
However, the Catholic Church is not a democracy, and it does not pretend to be so! The bishops alone, of course, determine matter of faith and morality.
Every parish is required by the 1982 Code of Canon Law (in which, by the way, the rights and duties of the laity are set out with precision and clarity) to have a parochial pastoral council and a parish finance council. These bodies are composed of laity, who care for the temporal
and corporate life of the parish and advise the pastor on such things. Some parishes conduct elections, others have ways of reaching discernment as to the identity of these who should serve.
However, the Catholic Church is not a democracy, and it does not pretend to be so! The bishops alone, of course, determine matter of faith and morality.
Every parish is required by the 1982 Code of Canon Law (in which, by the way, the rights and duties of the laity are set out with precision and clarity) to have a parochial pastoral council and a parish finance council. These bodies are composed of laity, who care for the temporal
and corporate life of the parish and advise the pastor on such things. Some parishes conduct elections, others have ways of reaching discernment as to the identity of these who should serve. Laity are widely present and influential in a variety of diocesan commissions and departments. And dioceses do, from time to time, call together multi-session synods for particular purposes;and laity are fully involved. "
In view of the aberrations which have sprung from the General Synod of the Church of England, and comparable bodies in other Anglican churches, it comes as a great relief to be assured that the Catholic Church is not a democracy. Majorities in favour of women priests mean nothing when those voting have little understanding or knowledge of the history of the Church, nor of Holy Scripture.
Fr Hawkins is also most reassuring concerning the pastoral way in which he has been treated by Rome. I believe that perhaps in England there will be few of us at the beginning who ask for an Ordinariate; but once it is established and fears allayed, there will be many more asking to join it as time goes on.
